Breaking News, April 10 | Highlights

Mumbai: Bollywood actor Salman Khan buys a bulletproof car. Salman Khan has received death threats recently via emails, following which Mumbai Police beefed up security outside the actor's house.

Delhi reports 484 fresh COVID cases in the last 24 hours. Positivity rate stands at 26.58%

Maharashtra government announces financial assistance of Rs 177 crore for the farmers affected by unseasonal rains in various districts of the state in the month of March.

EAM Dr S Jaishankar called on the President of Uganda, Yoweri K Museveni at his farm in Rwakitura.

"Discussed cooperation in trade & investment, infrastructure, energy, defense, health, digital and agricultural domains. Congratulated Uganda on assuming the chairship of the NAM and affirmed our strong coordination at multilateral forums including the United Nations," tweeted EAM.

Sachin Pilot's fast is against party interests. He never spoke with me regarding the issue. I appeal for calm dialogue as Sachin Pilot is an indisputable asset, said Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa, AICC Incharge, Rajasthan.

Seven people were seriously injured after a cooking gas cylinder exploded here, police said on Monday. The house in which the cylinder was kept also collapsed in the incident, they said. A fire broke out in the house of a man named Riyasat Ali in Shahi Colony as he was swapping cylinders on Monday afternoon, they said.

Himachal BJP on Monday accused the ruling Congress party of enrolling fake voters to win the Shimla Municipal Corporation (SMC) elections and sought the state election commissioner’s intervention. In a memorandum submitted to the State Election Commissioner (SEC) on behalf of the party, the state BJP chief Suresh Kashyap and former minister Sukh Ram Chowdhary alleged that the Congress leaders are trying to enrol fake voters on a single address.

Noida Police on Monday said it lodged an FIR and arrested one person after a purportedly dubbed video of TV serial Ramayana was played on a big screen inside a resto-bar in the city. The police took the action after short clips of the dubbed video of the serial surfaced on social media, with several internet users expressing anguish over it.

China on Monday said it has successfully completed its three-day large-scale fire and fury military drills "encircling" Taiwan, including the use of an aircraft carrier, aimed at showing its anger over the US House Speaker's meeting with Taiwan's President Tsai Ing-wen.

A fire broke out at a Massachusetts church not long after Easter services, with more than 100 firefighters working to save the 114-year-old structure. The fire started at about 5:30 pm on Sunday at the Faith Lutheran Church in Cambridge. Firefighters from 18 engine companies and eight ladder companies responded, Acting Fire Chief Tom Cahill said.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea moved by the Popular Front of India's (PFI) student wing leader, KA Rauf Sherif, seeking a transfer of a money-laundering case lodged against him and others from Lucknow in Uttar Pradesh to Ernakulam in Kerala.

Deadly blast in Quetta’s Kandhari bazar which killed four and injured eleven people. The blast was targeted at a police vehicle. Initial police information suggests several people have been injured in the attack, informed Pakistani media. 

The Calcutta High Court Monday reserved judgement on a petition by West Bengal Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari seeking an NIA investigation into clashes between two groups of people during a Ram Navami procession at Shibpur in Howrah.

China's military declared Monday it is “ready to fight” after completing three days of large-scale combat exercises around Taiwan that simulated sealing off the island in response to the Taiwanese president's trip to the US last week.

In an affectionate social media post for Rahul Gandhi on Siblings Day, Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Monday said she is proud of her brother who faces injustice with dignity and won't back down from the truth no matter how many turn their "turn their knives in his back". Siblings Day is celebrated in various parts of the world on April 10.

The Andhra Pradesh government has banned fishing in the Bay of Bengal across the length of the state's territorial waters for two months to observe conservancy and sustain the breeding season of various prawn and fish species, an official said on Monday.

Grenades recovered in Delhi's Holambi Kala area, one person arrested.

BMC has made it mandatory to wear masks in all BMC hospitals in view of the current Covid situation. This decision was taken after a meeting on the issue of Covid rise. BMC has also advised its employees to wear masks in public places.

Light to medium rainfall along with winds will be witnessed in isolated places in Marathwada till April 14, the meteorological department of a university in Parbhani said on Monday.
The meteorological department of Vasantrao Naik Agriculture University has forecast light to medium rain spells along with wind of 30-40 km per hour at isolated places of Marathwada.

Madhya Pradesh Medical Education Minister Vishvas Sarang on Monday said adequate arrangements were in place in hospitals of the state amid rising COVID-19 cases. Mock drills were conducted at various hospitals in the state on Monday to review their preparedness as part of the nationwide exercise in the wake of a surge in the cases of coronavirus. In state capital Bhopal, a mock drill was conducted at the Hamidia Hospital in the presence of Sarang.

Covid cases in Delhi are expected the rise in the coming days as the city is densely populated, Health Minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said Monday and asked people with flu-like symptoms to wear masks and avoid public places. The national capital reported 699 COVID-19 cases and four deaths on Sunday. Three deaths reported on Sunday were due to various diseases and Covid was "incidental". In one case, the primary reason was Covid, Bharadwaj told reporters.

The Dalai Lama on Monday apologised to a boy, his family and friends for the "hurt his words may have caused", after a video clip purportedly showing the Tibetan spiritual head asking him to suck his tongue sparked a row. In the two-minute-five-second video, the Dalai Lama also asked the child "to look at those good human beings who create peace, and happiness and not follow those who kill other people".

A court here in Gujarat has sent right-wing activist Kajal Hindustani to 14-day judicial custody following her arrest for allegedly delivering a "hate speech" on Ram Navami that caused a communal clash in Una town, police said on Monday. Hindustani surrendered before the police in Una on Sunday. She was subsequently arrested and produced before a court in Una which rejected her bail plea and sent her to 14-day judicial custody, Una police station inspector NK Goswami said.

The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed two pleas challenging a Delhi High Court judgment that upheld the Centre's Agnipath scheme for recruitment into the armed forces. A bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala said candidates, who earlier got selected through recruitment processes like rallies, physical and medical tests for defence forces before the introduction of the Agnipath scheme, do not have a vested right to appointment. "Sorry, we would not like to interfere with the high court verdict. The high court had dealt with all the aspects", it said, while dismissing separate pleas filed by Gopal Krishan and advocate ML Sharma against the high court verdict.

Shops and other commercial establishments remained closed at most of the places in major cities of Chhattisgarh on Monday in the wake of the statewide bandh called by right wing organisations against communal violence in Biranpur village of Bemetara district two days back. While the essential services and schools were not affected by the bandh, public transport vehicles remained off the roads at various places. Some protesters threw stones at a passenger bus at the new bus stand in Bhatagaon area of state capital Raipur, damaging the windshield of the vehicle. However, a senior police official said the bandh was peaceful with no untoward incident reported so far from any part of the state.

A one-and-a-half-year old female tiger cub, that had strayed into human habitations in a village in Wayanad district, was captured on Monday, Forest officials said here. A cage was set up in Thovarimala under the Meppadi forest range to capture the tiger following the villagers' complaint about its presence in human-inhabited areas. The animal walked into the cage on Monday morning, they said. The tiger cub will be examined by a team of veterinary experts, and further steps will be taken as per protocol, the officials said.

Four persons, including a woman, were killed after an SUV first rammed into a motorcycle and then a truck waiting at a traffic signal in the city’s Dum Dum Park area, police said on Monday. The accident happened around 1.30 am when the speeding vehicle collided with the two-wheeler and the truck, killing three persons on the spot, they said. "The biker was declared brought-dead at RG Kar Medical College and Hospital. The condition of three others undergoing treatment is stated to be critical," a senior police officer said. The SUV has been impounded and police is examining CCTV footage for more details, he added.

A day after the Kurmi community people withdrew their rail blockades in parts of West Bengal on the fifth day of their agitation demanding scheduled tribe status, they relaxed an obstruction on NH-6 on Monday, an official said. The decision to relax the road blockade at Khemasuli in Paschim Medinipur district was taken after the state government sent a letter to the functionaries of Kurmi Samaj West Bengal, inviting them to a meeting on April 11 at noon, he said. National Highway-6 connects Kolkata with Mumbai.

A woman lost her life and five others including the Ujire Gram Panchayat chief were injured when the car in which the panchayat president’s family members were travelling fell into a gorge in Dakshina Kannada district, police sources said. The deceased has been identified as Sarojini Shetty, a relative of Ujire gram panchayat (GP) president Pushpavathi Shetty. The Panchayat chief, her daughter Poornima Shetty, grandson Samridh, Sakshi and the car driver Arun were injured in the accident when the car fell into a gorge at the second curve of Charmady Ghat on Sunday night, police sources added. All of them were returning after attending a funeral at Koppa in Sringeri.
 

An elderly couple was found dead with their throats slit at their residence in northeast Delhi's Gokalpuri area on Monday morning, police said. Radhey Shyam Verma (72) and his wife Veena's (68) house was also found ransacked, Deputy Commissioner of Police (northeast), Joy Tirkey, said. While the elderly couple lived on the ground floor of the house, their son Ravi Rattan along with his wife and six-year-old son was living on the first floor of the house. Radhey Shyam had retired as vice-principal from Delhi government school, Karol Bagh. The family has been living in the house for the last 38 years, the DCP said.

The ruling BJP will release this evening its first list of about 170 to 180 candidates for the May 10 Karnataka Assembly elections, the party's Parliamentary Board member B S Yediyurappa said on Monday. "The list will be released by this evening," the former Chief Minister told reporters in New Delhi. There is one more meeting today to finalise the list, the Karnataka BJP strongman said, adding that he is confident of its release by this evening. He said 170 to 180 names would be announced in the first list.

The Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) has asked public sector banks, insurance companies and government departments to provide factual reports on corruption complaints sent to them by the probity watchdog within a month. The move is aimed at ensuring timely action on graft complaints and checking inordinate delays, officials said on Monday. "Chief Vigilance Officers (CVOs) are required to submit the factual report to the commission, on the basis of scrutiny of relevant records/documents only, within a period of 30 days of the receipt of the complaint/communication from the commission," the CVC said in the latest order.

Union Home Minister Amit Shah is scheduled to launch the 'Vibrant Villages Programme' (VVP) in Kibithoo, a village along the India-China border, during a two-day visit to Arunachal Pradesh starting Monday, officials said. Shah, in his first visit to the northeastern state as home minister, will on Monday inaugurate nine micro hydel projects constructed under the ‘Golden Jubilee Border Illumination Programme’ in Kibithoo. These electricity projects will empower people living in border villages, they said.

A fire erupted on a hill in South Goa district, a month after fires destroyed forests at multiple locations in the coastal state including the Mhadei Wildlife Sanctuary, a senior official said on Monday. The fire was witnessed on Sunday night at Korpa Dongor, a hill near Canacona town in South Goa, the forest department official said, adding it was brought under control early Monday morning. The blaze could be seen from the Canacona-Margao Highway, located eight km away.

 A devotee from Telangana presented two unique sarees, one of which had a gold zari (fine thread) in-laid, to Tirumala Sri Venkateswara Swamy and Tiruchanoor Sir Padmavati Devi temples in Tirpuati, an official said. These sarees, presented by Nalla Vijay, which could fit into a match box were presented through Andhra Pradesh Chief Secretary K S Jawahar Reddy. The devotee presented the sarees to Tirumala Tirupati Devasthanams (TTD) at Sri Padmavati Rest House in Tirupati, the official said in a statement on Sunday.
 

Calyampudi Radhakrishna Rao, a prominent Indian-American mathematician and statistician, will receive the 2023 International Prize in Statistics, the equivalent to the Nobel Prize in the field, for his monumental work 75 years ago that revolutionised statistical thinking. Rao's work, more than 75 years ago, continues to exert a profound influence on science, the International Prize in Statistics Foundation said in a statement. Rao, who is now 102, will receive the prize, which comes with a USD 80,000 award, this July at the biennial International Statistical Institute World Statistics Congress in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

The second meeting of the G20 Development Working Group (DWG), attended by delegates from member and invitee nations and various organisations, concluded here on Sunday.
The DWG meeting held from April 6-9 at Kumarakom here discussed G20's role in accelerating progress on important issues like Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) Lifestyle for Environment (LiFE), green transitions that are globally just and women-led development, India’s DWG Co-Chairs -- Ministry of External Affairs’ Joint Secretaries Nagaraj K Naidu and Eenam Gambhir -- told reporters.

Telangana BJP president Bandi Sanjay Kumar has lodged a complaint with the Karimnagar police stating that he had lost his mobile phone during the course of being detained recently in the question paper leak case and requested the authorities to trace it. Sanjay Kumar, a Lok Sabha MP from Karimnagar constituency, was arrested on April 5 by the Warangal Police over the alleged leak of secondary school examination papers hours after being picked up in the middle of the night and placed initially under preventive arrest.
 

Seven persons were killed and 23 others injured when a tree fell on a tin shed under which people were standing in a temple premises after heavy wind and rains in Maharashtra's Akola district, local administration said on Monday. The incident took place at around 7.30 pm on Sunday at Babuji Maharaj temple located in Paras village under Balapur taluka when the people had gathered for the 'maha aarti', they said. Due to the heavy wind and rains, a 100-year-old tree fell on a tin shed under which around 40 people were standing, the district administration said. Seven people were killed and 23 others received injuries. Five of them were seriously injured, the authorities said.

The Special Cell of Delhi Police has arrested three men who allegedly gave shelter to a man wanted in the Umesh Pal murder case in Uttar Pradesh, officials said. Umesh Pal was a key witness in the 2005 killing of then Bahujan Samaj Party legislator Raju Pal. Javed, Khalid, and Jeeshan have been sent to judicial custody, the officials said on Sunday. They are accused of aiding Asad and harbouring him in the national capital after Umesh Pal's killing. Asad is the son of gangster-turned-politician Atiq Ahmad. The name of Ali, Ahmad's other son, has also surfaced in the killing of Umesh Pal.

A deadly land mine explosion in Syria killed at least six people on Sunday, according to state media. News agency SANA said the explosion hit civilians who were foraging for truffles in the countryside, and blamed the incident on a land mine planted by the Islamic State group in the southern Deir Ez-Zor province. The area is a former stronghold of the militants. A day earlier, SANA reported six people -- also heading to search for truffles -- were killed by an anti-tank mine left by IS in the desert of Homs' eastern countryside.

Three children were killed when the four-wheeler they were travelling in plunged into a gorge in the Pratapnagar block of this Uttarakhand district, police said on Sunday. The accident occurred near Pujargaon on the Pujargaon-Lavarkha-Dodag-Thapla motorway. The driver, identified as Vijender Lal, jumped out of the vehicle before it fell into the gorge, they said.

The Kurmi community people on Sunday evening withdrew their rail blockades at two places in West Bengal’s Purulia district on the fifth day of their agitation demanding scheduled tribe status, the South Eastern Railway said. All steps are being taken to restore normal train services. “The blockade at Kustaur station in Adra Division and Khemasuli station in Kharagpur Division since May 5 has been withdrawn,” the SER said in a statement.

Saudi officials were in Yemen's capital Sunday for talks with the Iran-backed Houthi rebels, as part of international efforts to find a settlement to Yemen's nine-year conflict, officials said.
Saudi Arabia's delegation, chaired by the kingdom's ambassador to Yemen, Mohammed bin Saeed Al-Jaber, met with Mahdi al-Mashat, head of the Houthi's supreme political council, which runs rebel-held areas in Yemen, according to the Houthi-run SABA news agency. An Omani delegation, which arrived in Sanaa on Saturday, joined the talks, the agency reported.

Alleged desecration of a religious flag led to brick-batting between two groups and arson at Shastrinagar in Jamshedpur, prompting the authorities to impose Prohibitory Orders under Section 144 of CrPC in the locality on Sunday evening, an official said. Two shops and an auto-rickshaw were set ablaze by the warring groups and the police fired tear gas shells to disperse the mob, he said.

Alleged desecration of a religious flag led to brick-batting between two groups and arson at Shastrinagar in Jamshedpur, prompting the authorities to impose Prohibitory Orders under Section 144 of CrPC in the locality on Sunday evening, an official said. While six people were injured in stone-throwing, two shops and an auto-rickshaw were set ablaze by the warring groups and the police fired tear gas shells to disperse the mob, he said. An adequate police force has been deployed in Shastrinagar under Kadma police station in Jharkhand to maintain law and order.

Chief of Defence Staff Gen Anil Chauhan carried out a comprehensive review of overall security situation along the Line of Actual Control (LAC) with China in the Sikkim sector amid the lingering border row in eastern Ladakh. Gen Chauhan was apprised about Indian Army's operational readiness in the region by senior military commanders during his visit to headquarters of the Army's Trishakti Corps at Sukna in West Bengal. The Chief of Defence Staff (CDS) paid a two-day visit to North Bengal region that concluded on Sunday.

The mayoral poll in Delhi will be held on April 26, city minister Saurabh Bharadwaj said on Sunday. Incumbent Shelly Oberoi, an AAP councillor who was elected on February 22, will continue to hold charge till her successor is elected. She had defeated the BJP's Rekha Gupta by a margin of 34 votes. Oberoi polled 150 votes, while Gupta received 116 votes out of the total 266 votes polled.

A six-member team of an NGO was stopped by the police from visiting the violence-hit areas of Howrah district on Sunday, officials said. The 'fact-finding' team, led by retired Patna High Court judge L Narasimha Reddy, was stopped at the Vidyasagar Setu toll plaza when they were heading towards Kazipara in Shibpur, which was rocked by clashes on Ram Navami. Members of the team had a heated argument with the police after they were stopped. After waiting for around 30 minutes, they returned to their hotel in Kolkata.